Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1887-09-08
THE INSULT AT WHEELING
An Able View of the Incident
The Democratic "Sun" Con-
dennis the Banneritcs.

The Democratic "Sun" Com
dennis the Banneritcs.
New York Tribune.
The New York .Sttn fDem. J
takes an interesting view of the ep.
ISOLDE at Wheeling 1t says:
ut mainly concerns the citizens
of Wheeling and West Virginia
and members of the Grand Army
of the Republic to distribute the
blame for the late unpleasantness
on the banks of the Ohio. Folly
and hot-headedness were shown by
both parties, although it is probable
enough that the motives of both
were good. In view of the well.
known luminosity of many or most
members of the g.. y. r. to Mr..
Cleveland on account Of the battle.
flag order, it was foolish and dis
tinct challenge to partisan excite
ment to hang out his portrait where
the visiting veterans would have to
pass under it. In view of the fact
that Mr.. Cleveland is President of
the United States and Commander
in-Chief of the army and navy, it
was unfortunate that the respect
due nim officially if not personally
should not be paid. The Wheeling
incident has, however, a warning
and an instruction for the Democra-
cy and for Mr.. Cleveland. 1t shows
again how deep, powerful and pas.
sionate is the resentment cherished
against Mr.. Cleveland by large
bodies of the Northern veterans of
the war. 1t shows that they have
no mercy for derlorable error of
judgment arising from want of
comprehension of popular senti-
ment."
1t must not be forgotten that the
large body of guests who were
wantonly and publicly insulted in
the city in which they were being
entertained are not of the army
which the President is Commander
in-Chief. They were mustered out
of the service twenty years ago.
They are now private citizens, en-
gagged in the various duties of civil
life, but united into an organization.
dignified, illustrious and patriotic,
in which the bond of union is the
common pride of the members in
the glorious achievements Of the old
Union army. Nor should it be for
gotten that the flag Haunted in their
faces by an unregcnerate rebel, for.
gctful of the duties of hospitality
was not the official emblem of the
authority and dignity of the United
States. 1t was the partisan cam
paign banner. If the President
himself had been at a reviewing
stand and the veterans had deliber.
ately avoided passing him, they
would not have been guilty of mill
tarv characterization, since they are
not in the standing army of which he
is the constitutional chief. Their &C
ton would have had another char
acter. 1t is one thing, however, to
dishonor a living President embody-
ing in his own person the delegated
sovereignty of sixty millions Of free
men; it is another thing to pass by
on the other side when a campaign
banner containing his portrait is
Haunted in the soldiers faces by
partisans with the deliberate object
of annoying them. The veterans
cannot be condemned in this matter
for wantonly insulting the President
Their first impulse was to resent an
indignity aimed at them, and they
yielded to it at once, and the more
Indignantly because no such insult
has ever been inflicted upon an or
ganization from the South during
its trip to the North. If blame there
is in this affair, it must be appor-
toned wholly to the person or per-
sons who hung out that banner.
What an amazing state Of affairs
this Wheeling episode betokens,
when it is viewed in its broadcast
aspect! That the President is not
on speaking terms with the soldiers
who saved the Union, his refusal to
attend the National Encampment
sufficiently attested. That the sol
diers themselves have lost conf
dence in the President in conse-
quence of his contemptuous treat.
ment of them and of what our iu-
dicious neighbor terms ga deplora
bic error of judgment arising from
want Of comprehension Of popular
sentiment" is the moral of this later
and more significant incident. The
President is profoundly distrusted
by those who fought their country's
battles fir ON Gettysburg and Ante
tam to Shiloh and Vicksburg That
IS fact Of momentous significance.
Weknow ofnO mode Of treatment which
offers, 10 sufferers from chronic diseases a
more certain hope Of cure than that which Ia
compromised In the use Of Ayers sarsa-
Parilia. For purifying and invigOrstiug the
blood this preparation Is unequaled.